How Salmon Eggs Can Change Your Skin Forever

Restorsea’s founder Patti Pao describes her skincare brand as “Hermès for the face,” and she isn't without good reason. The line boasts a 25 million dollar patent, overwhelmingly positive medical peer reviews, and the backing of Harvard’s most-prized business school alumni. Why? Because six years ago, Pao discovered the rare prize of beauty ingredients: A live enzyme derived from salmon roe that’s all-natural, totally humane, and capable of delivering continuous exfoliation without thinning or inflaming even the most sensitive skin. If that isn't enough, the all-knowing enzyme contains a proprietary acid that allows it to intuitively treat problem areas, leaving the healthy parts of the skin untouched.

Pao had no plans to start her own beauty company, but accidentally discovered this miracle ingredient during a trip to a salmon hatchery halfway up a mountain in Norway. That’s not to say that she didn’t have necessary experience; she cut her teeth at Avon Cosmetics before going on to launch her own consultancy firm where she helped ghost formulate over 400 beauty products that went to market between 2005 and 2010. While she was scheming a way to shorten her hike to the top of this mountain, she stumbled up a salmon hatchery without knowing that the discovery would change her life. During her visit Patti was perplexed by how the hatchery workers’ hands all appeared to look 20 years younger than their faces. “This particular hatchery practiced synchronized hatching, so the workers’ hands were constantly in the water, fishing out the empty egg shells and herding the baby salmon into larger pools,” she says. “They would help around 200,000 eggs hatch at the same time, so I knew that it must be linked to that and I was determined to find out the reason.”

Restorsea

Her search led to Professor Walther, who had designed a method of synchronized hatching out of the University of Bergen in Norway. He explained that unlike baby birds or insects that peck or claw their way out of the eggs, salmon release a live enzyme that digests the molecular shell around them, dissolving it until there is a hole big enough to swim out of. This enzyme then remains live in the water, naturally digesting dead skin cells from the workers’ hands as needed, but leaving the living cells untouched. Excited, Pao persuaded the professor to send her a kilo of the live enzyme and instantly set about experimenting with it in varying formulations. A cool $55 million was then raised to bring the lab’s end results into a fully-fledged Restorsea line and Pao’s exclusive rights to it were secured in the aforementioned $25 million patent.

Restorsea officially became available to buy during an instantly sold-out soft launch at Bergdorf Goodman in 2012, but despite its success and a Gwyneth Paltrow-endorsed campaign, Pao felt that the traditional retail strategy wasn’t the correct fit for her baby. “You don’t have to be everywhere to be successful,” she explains, “plus there was more that I wanted to do to get the products to an even higher level. Doctors kept asking me for a medical-grade line for their patients and I wanted to concentrate my money into developing that rather than on retail presence.” Now divided into two product lines called Restorsea and Restorsea Pro—the latter contains ten times more of the live enzyme than the regular line—Pao has found a more effective way of selling the brand. Restorsea is available exclusively at restorsea.com and Restorsea Pro became available this month through a number of licensed dermatologists and plastic surgeons of Patti’s choosing. “We’re currently used by 40 doctors who are key opinion leaders in their field,” says Pao, who has personally visited each one to see if they’re the right for her brand. “It’s a timely process, but it’s vital to make the right choices. The maximum number will be limited to 300, period.”

The miraculous effects of Restorsea Pro are not heresy, so it's easy to see how Patti is inundated with opportunities to grow her business. The results are documented in medical peer reviews and in the anecdotal story of an unsure investor who had eczema. This doubter made the decision to invest after Patti had left him with some hand cream samples that caused his eczema to completely disappear. “I call it the million dollar hand cream, because he literally invested a million dollars in it,” laughs Patti. To ensure the best results or, as she calls it, the “Pro glow” Pao prescribes an application of her product twice a day for eight weeks. “Redness will decrease, dark spots will be reduced, and lines and wrinkles will become smoother—refracting light and illuminating skin on a deeper level.” For results that truly last, she stresses the importance of continued use. “If you stop, the enzyme will metabolize itself out of your skin and it will go back to normal,” she warns.

The current product line is made up of five products: two moisturizers, one eye cream, the aforementioned million dollar hand cream, and an intensive serum, but Pao has plans to roll out four more Pro products during the next year. First up is a revelatory foaming cleanser, which she allowed me to sample. I found that it was strong enough to remove multiple layers of mascara, but delicate enough not to sting or leave my skin feeling tight—exactly the kind of product that could have me hooked for the rest of my life. Another bonus to Patti’s formulas is that unlike other medical-grade ointments and creams, hers doesn’t have a strange, off-putting smell. Instead, they smell delicate, elegant and subtly luxurious. All things considered, Restorsea seems to be the cleverest skincare around—even if Gwenyth Paltrow hadn't attached her own glowing face to the name.

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